Freestyle

A vast, growing library of music resources

While for many teachers the Scheme may be the part of Charanga Musical School they use the most, others also like the more flexible Freestyle approach provided by the Musical School resource library.

From this library you can choose from a range of music resources which you might want to mix in with your own. You can also use the library to find and save resources linked to many other areas of music-making in your school.

Take a look inside the Freestyle library

Topics

The topics mostly contain collections of songs or related resources linked to popular primary themes such as Ancient Egypt, Minibeasts and Healthy Living. As they are intended to be used flexibly to support your teaching in a range of contexts, there are no lesson plans.
The topics have been divided by age range, but many can be used across the primary sector.

Units

The stand-alone units within Freestyle can be combined or added to other materials to form a unique music plan for your school. They all offer a flexible pathway containing every resource from the unit in a single lesson, giving you complete flexibility in your teaching.
Many of the units, which cover a wide range of musical genres, centre around a central song – some well-known and some specially commissioned for young voices.

Productions

Our full school musical productions can be used to celebrate key points in the school year, such as summer or winter time, or festivals like Harvest, Diwali and Christmas. Each production provides everything you need including tracks for learning the songs, backing tracks for the performance, scripts, scores and director guides. The songs can be used in schools as often as you like, but in most cases it will be necessary to take out a Public Performance Licence for public shows. Visit the production home page for full details and guidance.

Listening Centres and Courses

The Listening Centre offers a colourful collection of music covering a range of periods, styles and genres. Listen to well over 150 musical works by style, genre or era; access a guided Classical music library complete with fast facts and historical context; and a monthly Listening Calendar, linking music to specific events throughout the year. A range of courses will also enrich, enhance and extend your curriculum delivery. A new Musical Styles section categorised by style will feature Jazz, Hip Hop and African drumming courses.

Collaborations

Nicola Benedetti’s “With Nicky” video series provides information, guidance and support for young musicians. Friday Afternoons features new works from an eclectic group of composers, from Classical and Folk to Jazz and Indian music. There’s also the chance to learn and perform Carnival Suite, a specially-commissioned orchestral piece by John K Miles.

Creative Apps

Rhythm Grids

The Rhythm Grids are great for introducing simple and compound 2, 3 and 4-beat time signatures. Children love the rotation feature.

Music Explorer

An exciting app supporting lots of different musical activities, including pulse games, listening skills, improvising, composing and use of notation.

Percussion Writer

A great way to play along with excerpts from famous works or create your own simple classroom percussion pieces.

Musical Toolkit

Supports the learning and understanding of generic musical ideas and terminology such as pulse and rhythm, notations and historical context.

NEW In the Freestyle library this year

With a powerful search tool in place, you can access a growing library of fantastic materials: more instrumental resources, more productions, new topics and courses.

Recent releases include Caroline Hoile’s superb musicals Nice Weather For Ducks! and The King Of All Polar Bears, and Sarah Baker’s popular Tuning The Tables, which helps children to learn their times tables.

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Discover why Musical School is having such an enormous impact on the teaching and learning of music in over 10,000 primary schools

What teachers say

Charanga has saved my life for instrumental music classes this year! The catchy rhythms and melodies have engaged my mixed ability ensemble classes and encouraged them to work together to achieve their best possible results. The backing tracks have also been incredibly useful for school performances.

Wendy Szuch, Nord Anglia International School, Hong Kong

Good to know

The Freestyle library is regularly updated with new resources, many based on teachers’ requests.

You can mix and match resources by creating your own personal lessons and courses.

Most common sentiment about the library: “It’s what I’ve always wanted – lots of great resources in one place that I can customise for my own needs.”

Key fact

Access to everything you see here, along with the Scheme, is included in the simple, low-cost annual fee for your school.